2011 was the year dubstep blasted from cars and cafes, prompting me to hunt through many middling tracks to find the rare song that was more than just one killer drop. It was the year I chatted with friends and made discoveries on turntable.fm [only US], where there are themed or private rooms for playing or listening to music.

It was also the year I succumbed to 2NE1, whose hip-hop-accented K-pop accompanied at least a third of all my exercise sessions.

Honorable mentions: the rockabilly rhythms of Kaizers Orchestra’s Psycho Under Min Hatt [1], and the operatic electro-pop of SingerSen’s Snow Queen [1] from her Sirens EP.